Know that the citizen-to-citizen public
peace process is being fastened to Earth and life in the Middle
East. And see the undeniable importance of North
American and other institutions and individuals worldwide to help invent,
shepherd and fund dearly needed citizen creativity.
Be assured that this is the true news of our
time, and that traditional news reporters are broadcasting it more and
more, as does Israel's Channel 10:

See how Arab and Jewish teens of excellence
from Jerusalem and Bethlehem -- relating through a common language, English
-- "break the long-held misconceptions Israelis and
Palestinians have of each other in order to foster cooperation and
understanding among the youth that are likely future leaders of the Holy Land. The co-founders are three students at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology::Anat
Binur -- Anat@meet.csail.mit.eduAssaf
A. Harlap -- Assaf@meet.csail.mit.eduYaron
Binur -- Yaron@meet.csail.mit.edu

As in the 14 North American summer
camp programs --http://traubman.igc.org/camps.htm
-- MEET works to sustain participant relationships over long periods of
time. MEET says: "The controlled atmosphere
of a summer program is an excellent place to start building these
relationships, but it is out in the realities of their region in which they must
thrive. MEET mentors continue working throughout the year with the students,
continuing to develop their projects and build on their relationships with one
another."

The VISION of MEET teaches us
much:

Middle
East Education through Technology (MEET) is founded on the belief that Israeli
and Palestinian youth need to develop common ground between them, where they
can meet and discover their cultures, their similarities, their differences
their humanity. Though only a few miles separate most Israelis and
Palestinians, their views of each other are largely based on propaganda,
politics, and tragedy rarely

through
personal interaction. MEET facilitates that common ground through an innovative
educational environment, for Israeli and Palestinian high school students to
learn to look at one another not only as fellow individuals, but even as
potential partners.

The MEET
model is one that is encountered in business around the world, where every day
professionals work together to advance goals within culturally and politically
diverse environments. Identities are reframed around professional interests
rather than political ideologies, and stereotypes gradually begin to take a
back seat to cooperation and relationship building. Participants will be
attracted to MEET for the tangible skills it will instil
in them: computer science, leadership and entrepreneurship. But they will leave
MEET with those skills as well as something much more powerful: the tools to
make a difference in their communities and beyond, together.

Take heart in this new breed of youth and their
"social startup" to train "agents of change."With their feet on the ground and their eyes on people Inventing their future built on
meetings.-L&L

DvoraPeretz,
from the Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu Tor and RegeenHandan of Bethlehem might
reside only a few kilometers away from each other but they speak different
languages and live in very different worlds.
Thanks to a unique program, the two girls now have had
the chance to learn and work together in a common and non-political language:
the language of computers.
The program they are participating in, MEET, is simultaneously empowering Israeli and Palestinian youth
while teaching them leadership and management skills, all in the name of
coexistence.
"I wanted to get involved in the program when I
heard about it because I liked the idea," said Handan. "I
have met many wonderful friends" motioning in the direction of her lab
partner, Dvora, "we do most of our activities
together."
Now in its second year, MEET (Middle East Education Through Technology), partnered with MIT, is teaching the
high school students how to communicate through computer programming.
"The attitude and atmosphere is very fun, the
instructors from MIT are great and it's nice to be in a place where everyone
wants to learn," says Peretz.
Founded two years ago by MIT students' siblings AnatBinur and YaronBinur and their friend, AssafHarlap, MEET aspires to
give youth technology and leadership tools that they can take back to their
community. The program, held at computer labs on HebrewUniversity's Givat
Ram campus, brings students from Jerusalem and Bethlehem for a six-week
intensive course on Java script programming and business and leadership skills.
The courses are all facilitated by volunteer MIT students.
The idea for MEET came out of YaronBinur's experiences while teaching in Kenya as part
of MIT's Africa Internet Technology Initiative. Harlap
set out on a trip to visit Binur in Africa
and from his experience identified the power of technology and education and
how it affects people's lives.
"Together with our own accumulated experience and
to give back to the community the skills we learned abroad. We wanted to make a
huge change and impact in this region and we didn't see anyone coming up with
any creative ideas to change things." Harlap
told ISRAEL21c. Harlap regularly injects
business and high-tech savvy words when he speaks, immediately delivering the
message that this isn't your average coexistence program.
"We call ourselves a 'social start-up.' "We
built up this model that is unique and leverages the power of education and
technology by bringing people from different conflict regions together to
achieve one goal. The students participate in top of the line leadership
workshops and activities that normally high-tech companies send their
upper-management and executives to take part in."
Its success, he says, relies on focusing on business.
"The focus of MEET is not to become friends, it's to be able to work together
as a team, to be business partners, whether its with the group here or with
other Israelis and Palestinians they will meet in their careers."
While building friendships isn't a foundation of the
MEET, Harlap concedes that friendship is a valuable
by-product of the program.
"Even though building relationships is part of
our strategic goals, we never encounter it head on. The best interactions are
between people who are interested in the same things. If I bring a scientist
and a writer, they aren't going to click as well as two scientists would. The
fact that youth that can envision a future together - working together, doing
research together, and opening a company together - it becomes much more
powerful."
"Last year in our pilot program we had fears and
worries about Palestinian and Israeli interaction, but I have to say in this
regard we have no problems whatsoever - it's not just a pretty picture we are
trying to paint but the reality of the situation. This model is working,"
added Harlap.
The evidence shows however that friendships between
the students do indeed blossom and the students are made more aware of each
other's realities.
"Last year we had student who lived on a
settlement for ten years and had never met or talked to an Arab before. Someone
like him wouldn't be interested in a normal coexistence program. The same can
be said about some of our Palestinian participants, but because of MIT and
because of computers, they are coming here to study - despite having both
Israelis and Palestinians." MEET's instructors are made
up of volunteers from MIT. This year, eight instructors were selected from over
sixty applicants from seventeen different countries and eighteen different
majors and the chosen run the gamut from doctoral students, undergraduates,
master degrees, and even some alumni.
Kwan Lee, a Ph.D. student in the Viral Communications
research group at MIT Media Lab and a volunteer at this summer's MEET said
"Some Israelis and Palestinians say that they have never interacted with
each other before, but I came here and saw both Israeli and Palestinian
students interacting quite naturally."
"Sometimes friendships come through and sometimes
they realize they have even more differences - not necessarily between Israelis
and Palestinians - but on a personal level. Some of them just don't get along.
But working on a team, we try to encourage them to live that down, put personal
differences aside and work on the project together."
All participants receive full scholarships for the
program. MEET is funded by MIT, the government of Japan,
Germany's
Daimler-Chrysler and private donors. Several Israeli and Palestinian high-tech
companies not only financially support the program but also participate by way
of lecturing the students.
Another important partner of MEET is the HebrewUniversity,
which has donated the use of their computers and classroom and lab space.
"The HebrewUniversity has been
absolutely amazing to us from day one - from the lowest clerk to the President
of the university. We've been given everything - rooms, computer labs and
security. They are absolutely with us in making sure this program happens and
is dedicated to the long-term vision of MEET," said Harlap.
The first-year students focus on learning theoretical
and practical java script and leadership skills. A typical day features a
lecture in the morning by one of the MIT instructors followed by a guest
lecturer from the industry. After lunch they break up into smaller groups and
work on the material they have learned earlier in the day.
The second year program's focus is on projects.
Eighteen of last year's thirty participants came back for this summer's
program. The returning students have been working together all year, meeting
twice a month to complete on ongoing projects with a mentor from the high-tech
industry. Each student is given the opportunity to be the project manager,
business manager and quality assurance manager, giving them substantial responsibility
and the ability to lead their own team. The focus of the second year is how to
implement the skills they learned in the first year. "We want to give them
the tools to know what to do when they have a good idea for a company or a
business," said Harlap.
The students are required to converse only in English.
"We always tell the students that if they really want to work in the top
end of the high-tech sector, or to study at places like MIT, their English must
be perfect. In addition, they work on very diverse teams, so if they don't
speak English all the time, someone might feel excluded".
"Our goal is to create the strata of the next
generation of leaders in this region - it could be in business, medicine,
academia, even politics - but the basic idea and the skills and values we
instill in them is to really go out there and lead.
Take the tools and impact into their own community. We really view these
students as agents of change."